Regatta Bay golf & Yacht CLub - Destin, FL

Regatta Bay does a very nice job of blending golf into the beauty that is the Florida Gulf Coast. Designed by Robert C. Walker, the course offers a risk / reward strategy that will test your stamina and shot making ability to either help or hurt your scorecard.

I had the opportunity to play Regatta Bay with some great friends on the tail end of a Batchelor party down in Destin. The group of four entered a best ball match where I and a partner turned a 3 hole lead after 9, to a 8 hole victory through 18. Scores aside, the round was an excellent way to cap off a trip to the gulf coast to celebrate one of our friend’s upcoming wedding.

Hole 17 and 18 were two of the most fun holes on the course, with 17 being a drivable par 4 where you can set yourself up for an eagle attempt or tap in birdie. 18 is a true risk / reward hole where your tee shot determines your destiny here. The fairway runs out of space to the left and middle, and gets skinny to the right. The green is guarded by water as well. If you take driver, you need to stay towards the right to position yourself for a shot to the green. If you go less than driver, your distance control must be dialed in because you can still run out of fairway straight ahead into a pond the cuts into the fairway and also surrounds the left side of the green. After a decent start on the front, I steadied the ship at the turn and capped off a really fun round with a birdie from the sand on hole 17 and a tap in birdie after a good look at eagle on 18. Affectionately known as the “Tin Cup” hole by local members, hole 18 will test the nerves for your final approach of the round. A birdie - birdie finish is something I welcome for any round of golf!

There were several holes throughout the course that really made you think off the tee. I played relatively conservative for most of the round and this paid off. Less than driver was often the play as setting yourself up for a good second shot was the name of the game for any scoring opportunities. Several landing zones were available to the player, deciding how far you wanted your approach shot to be along with how much risk you wanted to take on was the equation that needed to be solved.